Ghost World Essay

In the story of Ghost World, by Daniel Clowes, two recent High School graduates—Enid and Becky—see their friendship crumble as they continue to live life beyond High School. Enid considers college and Becky, who has no extravagant plans, is disappointed by the fact that her best friend may be leaving her without consulting. Both girls are outsiders looking in and their adolescent journey to realizing who they are and who they want to be is is filled with comical antics including constant nagging, sarcasm, and romance. Film theorist Brian McFarlane explains that there are four areas of exploration called the “Adaptation Proper.” These areas are called, “Two signifying systems,” “The novel’s linearity and the film’s spatiality,” “Codes,” and “Stories told and stories presented.” I will reference each of these aspects to the adaptation of Ghost World. McFarlane’s idea of Two

This involves contrast of the two language systems: Novels, which uses symbols to portray meaning, and films, which use codes to portray meaning. “The film’s story does not have to be told because it is presented” (29). The cinema is also unable to portray past tense in the ways that novels can. McFarlane also explains in “Stories told and presented” that the film is spatial, contrary to the novel’s linearity, resulting in different ways of presentation. McFarlane’s four significant areas of Adaptation Proper allows audiences to see different lenses between novel and film adaptations. Clowes’ novel and the film adaptation portray each of these four significant areas successfully. Clowes’ graphic novel is unique in that the reader has to sometimes assume what happened or has happened, making the reader interpret what happens. The visual and verbal codes were both prevalent in this